“I’m a celebrity….get me out of here”.....The animal charity PETA have been following it for a while now, and you may well have heard about their deep concerns for the animals who are on this show.

I'm a celebrity is presented by Ant and Dec, two well known TV personalities and the idea is that a number of celebrities are taken off into the Australian jungle where they have to perform a series of tasks and then one by one they are voted off, I think that's how it works. 

Many of the tasks involve animals.  “I’m a celebrity”, says PETA, abuses animals.  Human participants have to do things like sticking their heads or hands into tanks full of insects, spiders, mice, rats or fish.  They have to crawl into small spaces full of rats or insects.  They have to eat animals as well.  And PETA says that animals are killed off camera before participants of this pointless show have to eat them.

I want to know why contestants can’t be challenged to do a task to make a difference and help the animals in the jungle or in Australia.  There’s lots to do there.  Why not set them a challenge to see what they can do to plant trees to help koalas?

Of course the other very worrying concern is that there are enough people who will try to follow suit and do these trials at home….The show is sending the wrong message.  It’s telling people that it’s okay to abuse animals.

The animals have no choice but to take part.  PETA says they ensure stress, being confined to small, unfamiliar spaces.  They often have to lose their lives just for cheap laughs and cheap entertainment.

Animals deserve better, and probably they are thinking "I'm an animal....get me out of here."  

So 3 things we can all do:

1. Sign PETA’s online petition urging the show producers to stop abusing animals for entertainment
   
   
2. Spread the word about this petition online
   
   
3. Switch off as soon as the show starts, or not bother to put it on in the first place.

This year's "show" could also be a very good opportunity for participants to refuse to take part in trials involving animals on the grounds that they abuse animals and send out the wrong message. 

Please sign PETA's petition here

Add orange to your life on Wednesday 16^th November

Next week is Orangutan Caring Week.  It runs from 13^th to 19^th November in 2022.

The aim is to raise awareness of the challenges orangutans and their rainforest home are facing.   And to help people take part, there is one very easy activity we can all do on #Orange for Orangutan Day ©.  And that is to add orange to your life on the 16^th November!

On the 16^th November, please #GoOrange

The idea is that we all make a big ORANGE SPLASH on the day by finding anything orange to wear to raise awareness and funds for the critically endangered orangutan.

The Orangutan Foundation has an INFORMATION PACK you can download and a POSTER you can put up.

You could also do a cake sale, have an orangutan themed tea party, dress in orange, eat baked beans – and go on social media with the hashtags

#OrangutanCaringWeek

#OCW

#OrangeforOrangutanDay

#GoOrange.

This is a great chance to have a bit of fun and raise awareness of the orangutan. 

Ways to support the Orangutan Foundation:

You could adopt an orangutan as a gift for a nature lover
Image © Orangutan Foundation 

Buy a calendar for 2023 from the Orangutan Foundation
for £12.00

Other ways to help include:

• #GoOrange to raise awareness of the plight of the orangutan – join in on the day.
• Sponsor an acre of orangutan habitat from £2.00
• Make an online donation
• Become a guardian of the Lamandau Wildlife Reserve (that’s £200) and actively protect 158,144 acres of tropical peat forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.  There are 600 orangutans, and their number will go up as more are rescued and released, and also thousands of species under threat such as gibbons, pangolins, clouded leopards, sun bears and proboscis monkeys.  You can pay this monthly (£16.50)
• Become a member
• Spread the word about Orangutan Caring Week and find out more about it
• Find out more about orangutans and why they are critically endangered here

Visit the Orangutan Foundation’s online shop

You can find other orangutan charities here